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Have you ever sensed life passing so fast that you couldn't keep up with it? Every ten days we have to do laundry, and I constantly say, "I just did laundry yesterday!" Christmas always takes me by surprise. I turn 75 this summer; yet I'm sure I turned 17 only a few months ago. I heard of someone doing this with their age, so I tried it and was amazed by what I saw. I imagined a tack pinning the end of a string on 1947, the year I was born. Then I extended that string up to...
QUEBEC CITY-In late May, legislators in Quebec passed Bill 96 after the Charter of the French language was overhauled after a year of contentious debate. Indigenous leaders are among those who are concerned about the bill, joining the English-speaking communities in the province. Bill 96 limits the use of English in the court system and throughout other public services. It also puts more restrictive language requirements on small businesses and towns. Businesses with 25 or...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-THE Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law recently, codifying the historic tribal provisions that strengthen tribal sovereignty and safety in Indian Country. The reauthorization of VAWA, passed as part of the Omnibus Spending Package for Fiscal Year 2022, empowers Tribal Nations to exercise restored jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators of child violence, sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, crimes against tribal law enforcement and...
I remember standing out one night in my aunt's yard just looking at stars and thinking about the great God who created all things. At 9 or 10 years of age, I almost had a little headache just standing there thinking. "You mean this great God knows who I am?" It was incomprehensible to me that this great Creator knew who Jimmy Anderson was by name. I didn't think I really mattered. My people are the Muskogean people and they have the Creek name. In the early 1800s the...
What scares you? I fear having a heart attack while playing the game Charades. And public speaking. I fear heights. I get woozy on a stepladder, or looking down a staircase, or when I sing gospel classics like "Love Lifted Me." That's what you get from living your entire life on the prairies, where the largest hill in sight is that mound of dirt a gopher pushed up in your backyard. Of course, fear is healthy if you stumble on a grizzly bear and her cubs. It'll stop you from gi...
Although born in Ada, Oklahoma and reared in Texas, swimming champion Mary Killman is also a citizen of the Oklahoma Citizen Potawatomi Nation. At age 11, as a member of the Santa Clara Aquamaids, Killman competed as a race swimmer in youth competitions. "I took to the water like a fish," she would later state in an interview for Indian Country Today. At age 15, however, Mary decided to switch from race swimming to synchronized swimming. A member of a close-knit family, Mary...
My daughter, Storm, has an incredible memory. She can remember everything I ever did that was wrong. Recently she reminded me of an incident that happened when she was a teenager. It was late at night and I remembered I needed some cash for something I had to do the next morning. I didn't want to drive to the bank alone to use the ATM machine so asked my daughter to go with me. She was ready for bed, wearing pajamas with cows jumping over the moon printed on them and house...
PHOENIX-With childhood obesity levels on the rise in the U.S., more experts are looking at how to prevent high cholesterol in youth to help avoid serious health problems later in life. Obesity increases the risk of developing high cholesterol, which can lead to heart disease and stroke, two of the nation's leading causes of death. One way to prevent unhealthy levels of cholesterol in adults is by preventing it in childhood, said Dr. Michael Domanski, a cardiology specialist an...
BROKENHEAD OJIBWAY NATION, Man.- Cities and rural posts in Manitoba are suffering from a shortage of nurses across the province, and now, First Nation leaders in northern Manitoba have declared a state of emergency. The Keewatinohk Inniniw Okimowin Council, made up of chiefs and councillors from the 23 First Nations represented by Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, made this declaration in late May. "It has always been critical, there's always been a crisis, but it's only been a...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Indian Health Service is announcing $5 million to target resources directly to tribes, tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations, and IHS direct service facilities to address Alzheimer's disease within tribal communities. This marks the first time IHS will allocate for this critical need. This funding will support tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to develop comprehensive and sustainable approaches to addressing Alzheimer'...
Two recent moves aim to benefit water access for tribal communities in the Colorado River basin. One, a bill in the U.S. Congress, could increase access to clean water. Another, the release of a "shared vision" statement, outlines the goals of tribes and conservation nonprofits. Tribes in the basin hold rights to about a quarter of the river's flow but have often been excluded from negotiations about how the river's water is used. At the same time, tribal communities often...
TSAWWASSEN FIRST NATION, B.C.-In late April, Chief Ken Baird and the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, announced that the Tsawwassen First Nation and the Government of Canada have reached a settlement agreement of the English Bluff Specific Claim. As part of the settlement, the Tsawwassen First Nation will receive $7.7 million in total compensation. "We at Tsawwassen First Nation are pleased to bring closure to this long-standing issue," said...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska-The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) recently was awarded $35 million dollars to help alleviate broadband and communication challenges in the state's remote geography. The award was the largest to date given by through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. The connectivity program is sponsored by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, with the agency announcing 19 new grants totaling $77 million in...
YELLOWKNIFE, TREATY 8 TERRITORY, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES-Northern, remote and Indigenous communities in Canada face unique housing and infrastructure needs. The Government of Canada recently announced a new pilot project that will advance community-led housing solutions. The Government of Canada is providing $200,000 a year over three years to the Dene Nation to create a Housing and Infrastructure Secretariat that will support and coordinate housing-related initiatives...
OTTAWA-A new report reveals racism against Indigenous people within the health system in and around Ottawa. Indigenous-Specific Racism & Discrimination in Health Care Across the Champlain Region was commissioned by Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health and Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition to uncover stories of anti-Indigenous racism in health care across the Champlain health region-which includes the city of Ottawa and Prescott and Russell, Sormont, Dundas and Gengarry, North Grenvil...
Here's the thing about dreams. I think that some people need to learn to dream. Especially after they have been taught not to. For six years, our family lived under the assumption that we would be leaving the country and moving to a developing one, literally around the world. Our children were young when we started the process to move. But when one year turned into two and then three, we saw them starting to withdraw. We saw them change. Though once they were free, fun loving...
The sun was shining as we drove away from our home one Friday morning. The roads were dry; the sky was blue. Driving west through the prairies, watching the grasses blow in the breeze, you could almost hear a gentle whisper in the air. My view from the passenger seat maintained this prairie panorama for countless hours as we passed through Alberta and into Saskatchewan. About 30 minutes west of Brandon, the weather changed to blowing snow. This caused a white out and hid the...
In the coming months, you can meet Indian Life staff at these events! Make sure you stop by and say, "Hi!" June 3–5: Indigenous Couples Getaway- Red Deer, Alberta, Canada June 24: Siksika Tent Meeting-Canada July 7–10: Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (NEFC) conference-Alberta, Canada July 23–24: Native Peoples Tour, Rosebud Reservation and Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, United States July 25: The Gathering (see note on Native Networking) July 28–31: Beaver...
July 25, 2022—The Gathering. Native pastors, Native churches and cross-cultural missionaries will gather to discuss a joint effort to bring the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Native Peoples Tour to continue the revival among the Native people in the Dakotas. For more information or to attend contact laura.long@the-harvest.org...
In our March/April issue of Indian Life, in the column “What’s Up with Indian Life,” we included the paragraph: “Over 40 years ago, a dream came to fruition. George McPeek, Ray Gowan and Chuck Olson came together with the sole purpose of restoring hope, healing and honor within the Indigenous community of North America, through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Intertribal Christian Communications was formed!” We inadvertently listed Chuck Olson instead of Chuck Fiero. We honor Chuck Fiero as one of the founders of Intert...
Now and then you run across some lines in an old song that just kind of hit you. As a songwriter, I hear a good one and tend to take notice of the way words are put together. I stumbled on an old 1972 Tom T. Hall song the other day that just kept cycling through my head and I couldn't get it out of my mind! So, I googled it and saved the words. It was a song about a person's relationship with God, aptly titled "Me and Jesus." In the third verse, the musician talks about Jesus...
NORMAN, Okla.-Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen Galen Cloud complained about traffic during the 10-hour drive from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, to his tribe's homeland near Oxford, Alabama-before recalling how his ancestors had to walk that distance against their will. "You think about it and you're filled with madness, and then you just feel the pain and then you just hate to imagine what all they went through, just to get here," Cloud said. He was headed to Oxford, where city and...
WASHINGTON, D.C.-On May 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released its historic Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, which serves as a formal investigation into federal Indian boarding school policy. The report identified 408 federally-run Indian boarding schools and discovered more than 500 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) or Native Hawaiian child deaths at these institutions. These initial findings are considered...
RAPID CITY, N.D.-Native American Christian leaders came together in South Dakota with a powerful focus on sharing Jesus with Indigenous people who've faced generational hardships. The gathering is ahead of the Native Peoples Tour with Will Graham this summer. They came from Texas and Saskatchewan, South Carolina and Wyoming, Alberta and Kentucky. They carried the names of their tribes with honor: Lumbee, Chippewa, Navajo, Apache, Sioux, Hopi and more. Altogether, more than...
BUSBY, Alb.-On May 19-22, 2022, more than 150 youth gathered at Camp Nakamun in Alberta, Canada for the Native Youth Conference (NYC). The students came from eleven communities between British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskachewan. "We didn't even know if kids were gonna show up," said Chris Steinhauer, one of 11 NYC committee members from 4 communities and the Native churches, who helped plan the event. "And then to see over 150 kids show up blows my mind. Especially after...
